


What's Wrong with Secretary Jung?

by imhappi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Inspired By What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? (TV), M/M, help idk what im doing, i like how that's a tag lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27990849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imhappi/pseuds/imhappi
Summary: Johnny Suh is heir to the Suh Enterprises throne, one of the biggest conglomerates in South Korea. Voted Most Eligible Bachelor of the Year for 3 years in a row in Chaebol Weekly, not only is Johnny Suh Certified Eye Candy™, but he's also rumoured to be caring, considerate, AND capable.Basically the perfect Adonis, everybody and their dog is in love with Johnny Suh...  So why isn't Secretary Jung?Loosely inspired by What's Wrong with Secretary Kim
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52
Collections: Coffee Dates Fest [1st Round]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a fic! I feel a little nervous about it, but hopefully it turned out okay; what I have of it so far, at least.
> 
> This was for Coffee Dates Fest Prompt #44!
> 
> To be quite honest, I've never watched What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, and I only watched the first episode before writing this...I hope that's okay with the prompter!
> 
> Please enjoy what I have so far! And I would love to hear people's thoughts in the comments :)

“Fresh fruit salad, maple candied pancetta with applewood smoked chevre, and freshly brewed Hacienda La Esmeralda coffee. Black.” Jaehyun instructed the chefs. “Don’t forget, no kiwi in the salad. He’s allergic.”

That was exactly the reason Johnny’s last personal chef had been fired. 3 years of dutiful employment gone to waste over a simple yet serious oversight. It was a good thing Jaehyun had been there to point out the mistake before his employer had ingested anything.

It was a shame; this new chef was good too, but Jaehyun had adored the last one’s miso marinated roasted duck breast.

He checked his watch; 6:59am. He left the kitchen and briskly walked up the stairs to the master bedroom, where there was a figure sprawled across the huge bed in the middle of the room.

He checked his watch again. 7:00am. Jaehyun walked over to the windows and drew the heavy curtains, letting bright sunlight illuminate and fill the entire room.

“Good morning Mr. Suh!”

The figure on the bed groaned, shielding his eyes from the bright light as he burrows more tightly into his blankets.

The famous Johnny Suh, CEO of Suh Enterprises, one of the biggest conglomerates in South Korea with their fingers in just about everything. Food? Airlines? Luxury hotels? You name it, Suh Enterprises were sure to have a stake in the business. They were even involved in the music industry.

And Johnny, oldest son of the prestigious Suh family, was in no small part involved with the success of the company. The decision by Johnny’s father to appoint his young and green son as Vice-President of the company was hotly debated by both the board of directors and the media, but young Johnny had doubtlessly proved himself to the world. Highly intelligent with an uncanny business sense, he was the unarguable driving force behind the explosive growth Suh Enterprises had experienced in the past 7 years.

Not to say that growth came without struggle. Jaehyun was proud to have served as Johnny’s secretary all those 7 years, having come onboard only a couple months after Johnny became Vice-President, and he’s been with Johnny through all the ups and downs.

Which is why he knows exactly what’s going to happen next.

“Hmmrghh,” Johnny mumbles into his pillow.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that Mr. Suh,” Jaehyun fully knows what Johnny is trying to say, but he goes through the motion of leaning down closer to Johnny.

“5 more minutes,” Johnny lifts his head momentarily, sleepily slurring the words, before plopping his face back down onto the pillow.

Jaehyun rolls his eyes. What the world doesn’t see, is that the seemingly perfect Johnny Suh, is still a human under all the glitz and shine.

“I’m sorry Mr. Suh, but you need to get up now if you want to make your 9:00am meeting with Mr. Kim.” Jaehyun says apologetically.

There’s a muffled sigh, and then Johnny Suh is getting out of bed. Jaehyun hides his smile behind his hand. The blankets fall onto the bed as Johnny stretches, revealing the muscular expanse of his body. Jaehyun wills his face to be expressionless, but he can feel his ears burning. He guesses it’s that time of the year again.

Fact about Johnny Suh: when the weather gets hot enough, he goes to sleep in only a pair of briefs, which really leave nothing to the imagination, from his broad and powerful chest to well-defined abdominal muscles to his...ahem.

Oh how the tabloids would love to hear this.

Ahem. That aside, Johnny’s body is really really nice. Just the scientific result of his daily 5:00pm gym excursions, Jaehyun tells himself. And the other thing is...his genetics. Jaehyun coughs lightly and tries not to look.

“I’ll hang your clothes for today by the mirror,” Jaehyun says, looking at a spot behind Johnny. “Please come down for breakfast when you are finished.”

For his part, Johnny looks a little amused as he waves his hand in acknowledgement and trudges to the bathroom. He’s always liked teasing Jaehyun.

He shuts the door, and the sound of a shower running can be heard. The sound of the water running sounds a little different today; the water pressure must have changed. Jaehyun frowns, and makes a mental note to look into a plumber.

He starts making the bed, smoothing out wrinkles the best he can. Johnny opens the door and pokes his head out of the bathroom.

“Which Mr. Ki-- you know I have a housekeeper for that,” Johnny points out.

“Mr. Kim, the director from our entertainment branch,” Jaehyun replies. “The meeting agenda is to discuss the possible recruitment of Moon Taeil, the singer.” Jaehyun pauses. “And I know, I like being helpful.”

Johnny gives him a strange look before shrugging, receding back into the bathroom.

After making the bed, Jaehyun takes a look at Johnny’s expansive closet, and selects clothes that he thinks will be most appropriate for the day’s events, hanging them by the mirror as promised before heading downstairs.

He’s in the middle of helping the chef bring the plates to the table when Johnny walks into the dining room, still trying to style his hair using the front camera of his phone as a mirror.

Jaehyun chuckles and takes the phone from him, setting it down on the table as he glances up at Johnny’s hair and fixes a few strands in place. Johnny grins and gives him a thumbs up as he takes his seat, and Jaehyun takes his own seat.

Jaehyun peers over and quickly inspects Johnny’s food, and nods in satisfaction seeing nothing wrong. Johnny begins tucking in.

“Today’s schedule?” he asks, chewing on a piece of pancetta. Jaehyun swallows the particularly large piece of honeydew he was munching before replying. 

“9:00am meeting with Mr. Kim from Suh Entertainment. 10:00am meeting with German investors for the Suh Auto expansion until 11:00am. You have 2 hours for lunch today from 11:00am to 1:00pm, and you promised Jia Cha you would eat lunch with her for her birthday”, he recited. Johnny grimaced at that.  
“1:00pm to 3:00pm you have a meeting with board members to discuss an expansion into Japan’s music market. And finally, you have a social gathering with your friends at 6:30pm,” he finished.

“Thank you Jaehyun,” Johnny nodded. “I’ll need you to pick out a birthday gift for Jia before my lunch with her today. Did you make the lunch reservations?”

Jaehyun had already anticipated this. “Of course sir. Reservations are at Le Petit Papillon. They are expecting you at 11:45am. I’ll prepare your gifts before your lunch today.”

“11:45am?” Johnny blinked in surprise. “I thought you said my lunch starts at 11:00am. It only takes 30 minutes to drive to Le Petit Papillon even with heavy traffic, doesn’t it?”

“I thought you would appreciate the extra 15 minutes to prepare yourself,” Jaehyun explained.

Johnny burst out laughing. “Thank you Jaehyun, you’re the best.” he chuckled.  
“Not a problem sir,” Jaehyun smiled.

“My parents have been hounding me lately about Jia,” Johnny complained. Jaehyun knows this is true; Jia is the latest in the string of suitors set up by Mr. and Mrs. Suh, daughter of the Cha family who’s quite prominent in the construction industry.

She’s also the most annoying, even by Jaehyun’s standards, and he considers himself a fairly patient person. Johnny is a saint for putting up with her and going along with his parents’ plans.

“They’re just worried that their oldest son hasn’t dated anyone in years.” Jaehyun says diplomatically.

“There just hasn’t been anybody interesting,” Johnny shrugs.

“If you would like, I can analyze your traits and preferences and arrange meetings with high compatibility individuals who are of interest to Suh Enterprises,” Jaehyun offers. He knows he’s going to hate doing it and he wills Johnny to say no.

“God no, now you’re starting to sound like my parents.” Johnny grumbles. Jaehyun is a bit relieved; all the extra work on top of his normal secretarial duties would have been exhausting.

“Oh by the way, I think the water pressure in the shower was a little off today.”

Jaehyun nods. “I’ve already made a note to call the plumber to adjust the showerhead pressure,” he says smoothly.

At that, Johnny gives a smile. “You really are the best, Jaehyun.”

Jaehyun blushes a little and ducks his head.

“Just a result of your excellent training, Mr. Suh,” he replies.

After Johnny finishes eating, he rises from his chair, shrugging on the suit jacket Jaehyun selected for him.

That signals the end of Jaehyun’s breakfast as well, so Jaehyun gets up and walks over to Johnny.

“Today’s tie is a straight medium width navy blue tie,” he says, procuring the tie from his pocket. He had grabbed it earlier from Johnny’s closet.

“Sensible choice,” Johnny says as he leans down a bit to let Jaehyun loop the tie around his neck. Jaehyun’s nimble fingers work efficiently at tying a perfect Windsor knot.  
When he’s done, he steps back to inspect his work and gives a satisfied nod.

“Let’s go,” Johnny says, and Jaehyun is close in step behind him. As always.


	2. Chapter 2

They’re quiet on the ride to the office. Jaehyun watches the scenery whiz by through the window, while Johnny is on his phone. As the car rolls to a stop at a red light, Jaehyun can see a small child in the car beside them peering at him curiously. Jaehyun makes a silly face, scrunching up his face and sticking out his tongue. The child laughs, and Jaehyun grins.

He jumps at the sound of a phone ringing, and hurriedly fumbles to pick up the call.

“Hello, Mr. Suh’s secretary speaking,” he answers.

“Hello, this is Nam from the Investigation Team. We’ve confirmed the charges against Park Jungwon.” The voice on the other line informs him all about the latest potential scandal from Suh Enterprises.

“Oh.” Jaehyun frowns. Johnny looks up from his phone to shoot him a curious glance.

“Alright, I’ll let him know. Thank you.” Jaehyun hangs up the call and looks at Johnny. “The Investigation Team called, they wanted to let you know that they’ve confirmed that Mr. Park from the Accounting team has been embezzling funds.”

Johnny’s gaze hardens. “Great,” he mutters, and checks his watch. “I need to call the media outlets before anything leaks, but I think I’ll be cutting it a little close on time. Jaehyun, would you let Mr. Kim know?”

“I’ll tell Mr. Kim you’ll be a little late to the meeting,” Jaehyun assures.

Johnny nods, and starts making his calls.

When they arrive at the company, Jaehyun heads inside Johnny’s private office first to prepare for Johnny’s meeting with Mr. Kim. He’s only just finished setting the relevant documents on the coffee table when there’s a knock on the door. Jaehyun opens it, smiling.

“Hello Mr. Kim,” he greets, opening the door and gesturing for the man to come in. “Mr. Suh had an urgent matter to attend to, but he’ll be here shortly.”

Mr. Kim shrugs off his jacket and tosses it on the couch. “No worries Jaehyun,” he says easily, “I heard about the fund embezzlement thing, Ten told me.”  
“Would you like something to drink while you wait? Some coffee? Tea?” Jaehyun asked, moving to the Keurig machine in the back corner of the room.

“Coffee is fine,” Mr. Kim says, plopping down on the couch beside his jacket and pulling out his phone. Jaehyun drops in 2 sugars and 2 creams into his coffee, which is how he knows Mr. Kim likes it.

The door opens, and Johnny strolls in.

“Sorry I’m late,” he says nonchalantly.

Mr. Kim looks up from his phone. “Johnny, tell Jaehyun to stop being so polite around me,” he complains. “He keeps calling me Mr. Kim even though I’m only a year older than him.”

“He’s just being professional Doyoung,” Johnny chides. “Just like how you should be,” he stares pointedly at Doyoung’s half-slouch laying-down position on the couch, where he has one foot propped up on the cushions. “Get your dirty feet off my couch,” he scowls.

Doyoung waves his hand. “We’ve known each other since we were kids, stop being such a hardass.”

Jaehyun sets down 2 coffees, one for Doyoung and the other for Johnny. “Well then, I’ll take my leave,” he says politely.

Johnny nods, as he and Doyoung dive into what seems like an animated discussion.

Jaehyun makes his way outside the office, and to the luxury department store. Unfortunately, not having Johnny with him means no chauffeur (or car) to comfortably transport him, so Jaehyun decides to take the subway.

Jaehyun reaches into his pocket and fingers the black credit card that he knows only the most elite of the elite can afford; that is, one of Johnny’s personal credit cards. Johnny has entrusted him with it, and while he could probably take a taxi and cite it as a work expense, he doesn’t really feel comfortable using Johnny’s credit card so frivolously, even after all these years.

So Jaehyun opts to sit in the subway and hopes that the dark stain on the seat wasn’t anything weird, and tries to avoid eye contact with the elderly woman trying to sell a basket of children’s toys in the center of the car.

He glances up for a second, and catches the woman’s eye. Shit.

She hones in on him like a vulture seeing its prey, and reaches for his hand. Jaehyun tries to pull away, but she grabs his hand and grips it tight.

“You’re a well-dressed handsome young man,” she croons. “Surely you must have a girlfriend?”

He grimaces.

“Or a boyfriend?” she presses. She grabs a toy from her basket, and shoves it into his hand. “Wouldn’t they like a gift?”

She peers into his eyes hopefully, and he sighs. “How much?” he says, resigned, and the woman looks triumphant.

“Ten dollars,” she says bluntly, holding out her hand. Jaehyun eyes the pricing on the sign on her basket, clearly stating that each doll was only five dollars. But she looks so hopeful that he sighs again, and hands her a 10,000₩ bill. She hurriedly stuffs it into her pocket, and keeps moving throughout the subway car for other targets.

Not even a thank you.

Not that Jaehyun can blame her. He was in her place, long ago, struggling to make ends meet. He cringes inwardly as he remembers doing the same thing to other subway-goers, once.

Before Johnny saved him.

Jaehyun shakes his head, coming out of his reverie. He stares at the doll in his hand, a teddy bear. It didn’t look much like a children’s toy at all, looking a little strange with a disproportionately small head and long limbs. It was kind of cute in its own way, he mused. It reminded him a little of the aforementioned Vice-President himself.

Maybe he would go put it on his desk later.

When he arrives at his subway stop, he quickly puts away the doll and heads to the department store.

This was the reason why he’s here: to buy a birthday present for Johnny Suh admirer Jia Cha.

He makes a beeline to the jewelry section. If Jaehyun recalled correctly, he remembers Jia dropping hints about a certain Swarovski necklace to Johnny at their last meeting. Or rather, Jia dropping hints to a wall as Johnny completely ignored Jia while Jaehyun eavesdropped.

Jia was just another in the long line of heirs and heiresses that Johnny’s parents tried to set him up with, and Johnny always stringed them along in order to not offend any families or corporations. Jaehyun disapproved of playing with people’s hearts, but who was he to say anything?

He was even helping it along by being the attentive ‘boyfriend’ that Johnny couldn’t be, knowing what they all liked, disliked, and wanted. He pointed out the necklace he remembered Jia mentioning to an attendant, and paid for it with Johnny’s credit card. The only thing he couldn’t give them, he supposed, was Johnny’s love and attention.

In the 5 years that he’s been working for Johnny, Jaehyun has never known Johnny to be in love.

He stops by a flower shop on the way back, picking up Jia’s favourite flowers, chrysanthemums.

Jaehyun steps back into Johnny’s office just in time for his lunch date with Jia, and sneezes for the n-th time, eyes watering and nose runny. They may be Jia’s favourite flowers, but they’re also his least favourite.

He sniffles. He hates chrysanthemums. They were the worst for his flower allergy.

“I’m back Mr. Suh,” he calls, setting the gift and flowers on the coffee table, and then heads over to his own desk in the corner.

Johnny sighs from his desk. “I guess that means it’s time to go entertain Jia then, huh,” he says glumly, giving Jaehyun a forlorn look.

“Yes, Miss Cha is expecting you at the restaurant shortly,” Jaehyun says brightly, maybe a little too forcibly. This is one of the rare opportunities where Jaehyun gets some free time of his own, and he intends to make full use of it.

“Fine, fine…” Johnny grumbles and slowly rises up from his desk, pulling on his suit jacket. He spots the bear doll that Jaehyun placed on the corner of his desk earlier. “Oh? That’s new. Pretty cute for you,” he teases.

Jaehyun flushes. “I just thought it was cute,” he mutters, his ears warm. Johnny laughs, and heads out the door. “Bye Jaehyun! See you back in an hour,” he calls.

Jaehyun watches him go, and dives for his bag as soon as the door closes.

This was the first time in a while that Jaehyun didn’t have to eat lunch with Johnny, meaning that it’s the perfect time to run all the errands he’s been meaning to do.

He quickly whips out his own lunch consisting of a small container of salad, and starts to scarf it down, shoving forkfuls into his mouth.

The doors suddenly slam open, and Jaehyun chokes on a piece of lettuce.

“Hey Jaehyun, Doyoung said Johnny is out for lunch today, let’s eat lunch together,” Ten sing-songs as he strolls into the room, completely uncaring about his friend’s predicament as Jaehyun clutches at his throat and reaches for a cup of water.

Jaehyun finishes gulping down some water, and shakes his head. “You know that I can’t Ten, I’ve got so many things to do.”

Ten gives him his best attempt at puppy dog eyes, although Jaehyun thinks he looks ridiculous with his oversized pout.

“But I hardly ever see you anymore,” Ten complains.

“I see you at work all the time,” Jaehyun points out. “Plus we hang out on weekends.”

“It’s been so long since we’ve hung out on the weekend,” Ten pokes his cheek. Jaehyun swats his hand away. “Why are you so busy these days anyways?”

“Just working on some personal things,” Jaehyun shrugs, uncomfortable. He shovels the last of his salad into his mouth and stands up.

“I gotta go now, errands to run,” he says, and pushes past Ten hurriedly, wincing a little inwardly as he leaves. He can practically feel Ten staring holes into his back, and he doesn’t have to look behind him to see Ten’s frown.

Jaehyun feels a little guilty, but it couldn’t be helped. He doesn’t want his friends knowing what he’s up to, just yet. Ten is his best friend, and a great person (also a stellar makeup artist when Jaehyun wants a nice night out, even though god knows it’s been forever since he’s had a day off) but the Ten is also notorious for office gossip.

He’ll tell his friends if all goes well.


	3. Chapter 3

“Congratulations! You’ve paid off your loan in full.”

The bank teller smiles cheerily at him, handing him a slip of paper.

Jaehyun clutches at the paper, scanning it to reaffirm the loan balance.

0.000₩ Paid in Full  
Jaehyun can’t believe it. He closes his eyes.

Finally. After so many years.

With his family’s debt finally paid off and an offer to his dream program, there’s nothing left to do but tell Johnny.

Suh Enterprises has been his lifeline for the past several years and he can’t imagine having come this far without Johnny.

Meeting Johnny all those years ago was really a blessing. A part of Jaehyun wants to stay; he’s become fond of Johnny (not that he’ll ever admit it to Johnny), but he knows he has to pursue his passions.

Tonight, he’ll tell Johnny.

But for now, he has to go back to the office in time for Johnny’s next meeting.

When Jaehyun walks back into the office, Johnny is already at his desk.

Jaehyun checks his watch. It’s a little early for Johnny to be back.

Johnny looks up. “Jaehyun! You’re back,” he greets.

Jaehyun folds his jacket onto his chair and takes a seat. “And you’ve returned early, there’s still 20 minutes until the board meeting, sir. How did your date go?”

Johnny makes a face and leans back in his chair, tapping his pen on the desk. “Don’t call it that. And anyways, she called it off early after I complimented her bracelet. What’s up with that?”

“...Was it a Hermes Rose H?” Jaehyun asks warily.

“A what?”

“Did it look like a gold band engraved with roses?”

“Actually yes,” Johnny looks puzzled, “How did you know?”

Jaehyun sighs.

“That was the gift I picked out for her for Christmas.”

“Ooh,” Johnny winced. “No wonder. She was saying something about the person who gifted it to her, and I thought she was finally breaking up with me.”

Jaehyun shakes his head. “Mr. Suh, you’ve also done this with Jieun last year. And Sooah. What will your parents say?”

Johnny shrugged. “It’s not my fault I’m not interested in anyone they set me up with.”

“Well I hope you’re interested in the upcoming board meeting,” Jaehyun says, standing up from his desk and striding over to Johnny.

“Here’s some notes you should probably review before the meeting,” Jaehyun hands some notes to Johnny. “You have 10 minutes, sir.”

“I haven’t even finished complaining about my date yet, she tried to throw her drink at me!”

“I thought you said it wasn’t a date,” Jaehyun chuckles.

“...it wasn’t,” Johnny grumbles good-naturedly, and takes the notes.

***

The board meeting was a little dry, as they generally went. Jaehyun had spent the past couple nights staying up late to work on some onboarding paperwork, so after spotting him nodding off a couple times, Johnny let him go home early. Jaehyun smiled ruefully, and thought about what he was planning to tell Johnny tonight.

Even if the young hotshot heir was a little annoying to deal with sometimes, he was a good person. He would miss Johnny, and surprisingly a little bit of the life he’d made for himself at Suh Enterprises.

He walked up to the shiny black BMW parked outside his apartment, and opened the door.

“Hi Mr. Suh,” he greeted, getting into the backseat, “and Mr. Song.” He gave a nod to the chauffeur. The chauffeur nods back, and starts to drive towards the venue.

Johnny looked up from his phone and flashed him a grin. “I know I ask this every time, but ready for the social?”

“I’ve taken a look at the guest list,” Jaehyun said, opening up his phone to look at the document. “The people you should talk to tonight are Jisung Park, from the Park Corporation, and Jeno Lee of the Lee Foods Co. They’re who you should get friendly with, considering your future plans for expanding into the restaurant industry.”

“Well, I meant more in like a fun, woohoo I’m ready to meet new people kind of way, but that works too,” Johnny replied.

Jaehyun wanted to make a face, but he only smiled politely in response.

The biweekly social gathering for the rich and snobby is what Jaehyun likes to call the pompous event that Johnny attends every other week. Johnny claims he’s networking with other young influentials. It’s an invite-only, fairly exclusive event that Jaehyun would never have had a chance to go to without being Johnny’s secretary.

Besides enjoying the free high-end food and drinks, the social isn’t an event that he particularly looks forward to every other week. Besides being relatively late and past his regular work hours, there’s been a fair number of times brazen spoiled rich kids have tried to hit on Jaehyun, convinced he’s easy because he’s a secretary.

Oh well. It’ll all come to an end soon. “Well, I think I’m ready, but I’m not sure about you, Mr. Suh,” he quips instead, and reaches over to straighten Johnny’s tie.

“Thanks,” Johnny grins. “Let’s go,” he says, as the car rolls to a stop at its destination.

They both step into the myriad of flashes and clamour. Jaehyun looks down and trails behind Johnny with his head down as Johnny smiles and waves at the crowd of reporters and cameras.

This will be one thing Jaehyun will not miss. As a social gathering of young eligible bachelors from success and wealthy families, the event is always hounded by paparazzi eager to get the latest scoop, whether about someone’s love life or any new business deals that may have transpired.

Luckily, bodyguards hold back the unwanted press as Johnny and Jaehyun walk inside the venue.

“Hey Johnny! And Jaehyun,” Taeyong calls, walking over. He’s a successful model, and one of Johnny’s good friends; he’s also one of the party-goers that Jaehyun actually likes, and Jaehyun smiles back while Johnny waves.

Jaehyun zones out a bit, looking around, as Taeyong and Johnny chat about current events in their social circle, including Johnny’s latest failure in his ‘love life’. He spots a waiter carrying around glasses of wine, and resolves to chase him down before the end of the night. He also spots Jeno Lee and taps Johnny on the shoulder.

“Jeno Lee, 21. Black suit, bright red tie, on the left. He has 3 cats, and likes to go biking in his spare time. Ask him about how the Mieglo merger is going,” Jaehyun whispers to Johnny, subtly nodding his head in the right direction.

“That’s my cue,” Johnny says smoothly, interrupting his chat with Taeyong to walk briskly over to the group containing the aforementioned heir.

Jaehyun gazes at Johnny’s back as he watches him leave.

“So Jaehyun, how have you been?” Taeyong asks Jaehyun, drawing his attention back.

“I’ve been fine,” Jaehyun replies politely.

He pauses. Taeyong deserves to be told in person.

“Actually...to be honest, I’m planning to quit my job soon,” he confesses. “I got accepted to the Harim School of Architecture. I just wanted to say that it was nice knowing you, you’ve always been a bright spot at these things,” Jaehyun said genuinely, smiling.

“Oh,” Taeyong’s eyes widen, and he breaks out into a grin. “Congrats! I’m happy for you, Jaehyun. Johnny will miss you a lot though.”

“I haven’t told Mr. Suh yet,” Jaehyun confessed. “I was planning on telling him tonight.”

Taeyong’s eyes soften and he taps Jaehyun on the back. “Good luck,” he says, “In all my years of knowing Johnny, I’ve never seen him as attached to a secretary as he’s been with you,”

“You’re a good person Jaehyun, and you have a good head atop of your shoulders. Good luck with whatever comes next.”

Jaehyun thanks him, and Taeyong squeezes his shoulder before moving away to chat with others.

Telling Johnny has been something he’s dreading all day, but Johnny deserves to be told well in advance. He’ll have to arrange a replacement secretary, and all the training that they’ll need...Jaehyun bites his lip.

He chases down the waiter he saw earlier, and grabs a glass of red wine, downing most of it immediately. He knows it’s unprofessional, but technically he’s already leaving, so...hopefully some alcohol will help calm his nerves.

He’s nursing the glass in his hands when he’s approached by 2 tall well-dressed men.

“¿Estas solo, señor?” one of them asks, and the other chuckles.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone else around that the man is talking to. Eyes wide, Jaehyun gestures to himself questioningly. Me?

The men look to each other, some silent communication between their eyes, and they share a laugh.

Jaehyun doesn’t quite understand; it’s not uncommon for there to be different languages spoken here as the crowd is usually quite international, with guests bringing business partners from all over. It is unusual for people to be addressing him in another language without a translator though.

He’s still here representing Johnny’s name though, so he just continues to smile politely, even though the men’s eyes continue to search his body, lingering on the pin on his suit indicating he wasn’t on the guestlist. They know that he’s here as an employee, as a nobody, and he knows where this is going.

“Eres hermoso,” the taller one says, touching Jaehyun’s arm. Jaehyun smiles politely and gives a lightly forced laugh, subtly moving his body in a way that removes the man’s hand.

“I’m sorry, but I must get going,” Jaehyun excuses himself, and tries to slip past the two men, but one of them grabs his wrist and turns him around, getting uncomfortably close.

“¿Quién es usted aquí con?”

No one’s ever been this forward at these events before. He’s a little lightheaded from the alcohol, and he’s having trouble thinking clearly. He doesn’t know how to respond without offending the men, and he feels a hard lump in his throat.

A shadow passes behind him, and a hand reaches out to forcibly remove the grip on Jaehyun’s wrist.

“El esta conmigo.”

Jaehyun recognizes the low voice as belonging to Johnny, and he breathes out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he was holding.

Johnny says smoothly, holding Jaehyun’s shoulders to lead him away. Jaehyun looks behind at the two men, and they have guilty expressions on their faces.

“Thank you,” Jaehyun breathes.

“I saw you trying to get away,” Johnny chuckled. “Do you even know what he was saying?”

Jaehyun shakes his head.

“I don’t know any Spanish, although his body language was pretty clear,” he says dryly.

For the rest of the night, Jaehyun stays by Johnny’s side. It’s fairly uneventful. Johnny chats with some old money, like Chenle Zhong, as well as some new money like Shotaro Osaki. They chase down Jisung Park to talk to him about the restaurant industry.

Jaehyun feels the pleasant buzz in his head from the alcohol fading away, and his nerves starting to come back.

It’s the end of the night; it’s now or never.

Jaehyun grabs two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter. He hands one to Johnny, who looks puzzled.

“Johnny,” he starts seriously. He rehearsed this speech many times at home, to the amusement of his brother.

“Johnny, thanks for everything you’ve done for me.”

He pauses and rubs his sweaty palms on his pants. Under Johnny’s sincere, inquisitive gaze, he finds that even with practicing how he was going to quit, he’s blanking out on what he meant to say. He wants to convey how grateful he is to Johnny, for giving him a chance even with his lacking credentials. For being friendly, and not at all how he imagined a rich young heir would be. For being forgiving of his early mistakes, and for treating him so well even though he was only a secretary.

He’s distantly aware that he’s running out of time, guests filing out in a steady stream behind them, and he can spot servers starting to clear out the buffet-style tables of food in the corner of his eye.

He takes a deep breath.

“I quit.”


End file.
